Sisters No More
by AmiRide
Summary: Max and Maya are about as close as any sisters can get. But when a giant accident, orchestrated by Lissa, frames Max's boyfriend and Maya's secret crush, Nick, as a cheater and a liar, will the sisters turn against each other? It doesn't help that after Max and Nick's breakup, Brigid is trying to get Nick to herself, and that Maya is also trying to win her secret love's heart.


**A/N: Hi! For once I am posting at a reasonable time!**

**I know I keep making new stories, but I can't help myself. Sorry. Heads up, there's another new story coming your way after this one.**

**Anyways, I love all reviews, even flames. I know a lot of you guys hate Maya, but I just wanted to try something from her POV. She's annoying, but still. Poor her. Always second best next to the great Maximum Ride. I actually might do another Maya story after this.**

***shields face from tomatoes flying at it***

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

"Max! Max, stop," said Fang, tugging his arm away from me.

"Ha! No way," I snorted, dragging him. Fang groaned and let himself be pulled along to wherever I was going to show him, muttering and rolling his eyes. I wasn't even going to let Fang's crappy attitude ruin my perfect start-of-summer surprise. I grinned as we stopped.

"Here," I said proudly.

"Here what? There's nothing-oh," Fang breathed. Fang wasn't one to share his emotions with the world, but I swear his black eyes were charged with wonder as he stared at the beach and the roaring waves that clattered against the sand.

"Wow," he said, at loss for words. Well, not that he talked a lot usually.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said softly, perching myself atop the tall rock at the edge of the cliff as if poised to fly. Fang hopped onto the rock with me and slipped his arm around my waist. I stiffened, confused, and then relaxed because, well, it was just Fang.

And then he pressed me to his side comfortingly. And in that instant, I began to wonder, not for this first time, if I liked Fang. Oh God no, I hope not. That would be _waaaaaay_ awkward.

"Max," Fang started, his usually firm steel wall of emotion letting a little sadness leak through, "I really need to tell you something." He sounded so sad that all my suspicion (okay, okay, and maybe a teensy but of hope) of him declaring his undying love for me was erased.

"What?" I said worriedly.

"We're moving," he said. "Dad got a job offer in Colorado, and we leave tomorrow."

Wow. Way to ruin the moment.

Hey, sarcasm is my defense mechanism. It was either that or crying, and there was no way in hell I was doing _that_.

Suddenly it all made sense. The way Fang looked for the last week, sad, as if trying to enjoy his last moments. The way we had always went to my house instead of his for the past week, and how he had scowled when Ella had mentioned Jessica moving. I remember having scowled too, because I thought Fang had a crush on her. I felt silly and imperceptive now.

He never had been one for words, but right now I needed answers. When? How? And most importantly, why? I couldn't loose him! He had been my best friend since before I was born, when our mothers met in maternity classes. We were already destined to be best friends. He had been there for me for fourteen years, and my secret crush for almost a year. Why did the universe want to punish me like this?

"But that's not the important part," he said. I let out a grim little laugh. Not the important part? What? Had he gotten a girl pregnant too?

Fang turned so that we faced each other. He had my hands in his, and he was taller than me, so I had to look up to meet his eyes, my hair rippled behind me, a bit too long for my liking. I had wanted to get it cut like my twin sister Maya, but my mom had objected. She had had enough trouble telling us apart when we both had long hair, but it would be impossible if we both had the exact same haircut. Fang's hair was being blown about by the wind, and he flipped his head a little to get some of it out of his eyes. I found myself regretting that he did that, wanting to push the silky black hair out of his eyes myself. We formed a perfect picture, holding hands on the beach, looking into each other's eyes, my head tilted back and his bending forward. If someone had taken a picture of us right now, try would have seen two silhouettes against the sea, the kind of picture that was in a picture frame before you put in your own photo.

"This is the important part," Fang said, bending down to kiss me. My breath caught in my throat, and I found myself breaking our handhold to slip my arms around his neck. His muscular arms slipped his around my waist and I didn't break the sweet, soft kiss until I heard someone sob softly. I realized it was me. I wiped my tears away hastily.

"I love you, Max," Fang said softly against my hair. Tears ran down my cheeks again as we held hands, walking out of that little spot of summer that I had entered full of happiness.

* * *

"Max!" Maya shrieked. I laughed as I whizzed past her, clutching her favorite dress.

"Max, give it back!" Personally, I thought was doing her a favor. That dress was more clingy than Spandex. She ran after me, fast as lighting, but she had no chance against the incredible Maximum. I mean, I love my name. Maximum. It means the best. Very fitting, in my opinion. I grinned and something slammed into me. During my little trip to la-la land, Maya had caught up. We both went sprawling on the ground, Maya's dress catching on a hook on the wall and ripping cleanly in half.

" Max! Look what you've done now," Maya complained, getting up and dusting her jeans off.

"What we've done now. You're the one who slammed into me," I protested. She looked mad for a second, then raised a shoulder and dropped it.

"Eh. I never really liked that dress anyways. It was kind of slutty."

I grinned. This was why me and my twin got along so well.

"Max! Maya! The new neighbors are here!" yelled Mom.

"Coming!" Maya yelled back. She turned to me. "I need something to wear. You don't happen to own any dresses, do you?" She asked hopefully, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," I said. She sighed.

"This is why I wanted the dress," she explained, shaking her head. "It was my last one. Now what am I going to wear?"

"Why do you need to look nice anyways? It's just the neighbors. And with our luck, they're probably some old couple that'll come to mom or dad everyday for relationship advice." Over the past few years, we'd had our fair share of annoying neighbors, most of which left at the end of the year, probably because of Maya and I.

Maya snickered. "You wish. I saw their kid out the window this morning, helping the movers. He is so hot."

"So wearing a slut dress is going to help you win him over?"

"Exactly!" Maya said. I shook my head. We were so alike but so different.

"Well, I was going to wear a slut dress, but that option is out."

"Why don't you just wear what you're wearing right now? You look fine," I told her. She did look pretty in her jeans and white shirt.

"How is he going to tell us apart?" She said, gesturing to me. I realized that I was wearing the exact same thing. Maya and I were identical, down to the last freckle on our identical faces. Her hair had grown back, and the little pink scar over her eyebrow was long gone. Dad liked to joke that we were clones.

I grinned evilly. "How 'bout we pull a little twinsum trick on your precious boy," I suggested. Maya sported an identical evil grin. She hoisted me up off of the floor and we trooped down the marble stairs of our too-perfect home.

"Hey, where's Ari?" Maya asked, grabbing a cookie from the cabinet where they were hidden away so as to not disturb the perfectness of our artificial kitchen.

"He took the car, I think," I replied shrugging.

"Again?" Maya rolled her eyes. "I tell you, that kid is going to get into an accident someday."

Ari was the one inkblot on our crisp white existence. Our family was pretty perfect: a stay-at-home mom who made chicken dinners, a wealthy scientist dad, two girls, identical, who were like two peas in a pod and played dolls together and stuff. Well, it looked perfect. Only if you looked closer could you see the cracks. The dad was overworked. The stay-at-home-mom didn't actually stay at home; she was out half of the time, and too strict and too paranoid. The twins, Maya and I-we weren't eight and we didn't play dolls, and we were far from perfect. I had a temper and she was a diva. And then there was Ari. Ari was the one black sheep in our perfect family; he was the child our parents never meant to have. He was the most unloved and the most bitter; in our family pictures he was at first the cute little brown-haired boy next to the little blond twins, then the scowling, lanky teenager next to the two blond young women. He got out of the house as much as possible; he hated mom and dad, and drove recklessly to one of his stupid friends' houses where he felt more loved than here. Maya liked him better than me, and he liked me better than her. Mom and Dad had never really liked Ari, and Mom seemed relieved to have him out of the picture. Speaking of Mom, she came into the kitchen.

"Hello, Max, Maya. Oh, Max, don't you look nice!" She said, turning to Maya. She had very low expectations for the way I dressed, but her standards for Maya were higher. "And Maya, don't you want to put something nicer on?" She said, realizing we were wearing exactly the same thing. We rolled our eyes. "I'm Maya, Mom," said my twin. She rolled her eyes again, finishing her cookie.

"Mhmm. Yes. Well, the new neighbors are here, and we have to come over to welcome them." The new-neighbor ritual. Mom was all about order. I noticed that Mom didn't ask about Ari, as if he didn't matter. Truth was, she didn't like the neighbors knowing that she had an imperfect son.

"'Kay," I said, getting my sneaks.

"Maximum! Not on the tile floor!" said Mom, horrified. I rolled my eyes and went barefoot out the door to put my sneakers on there.

"Hello," Mom said as we walked across our lawn to theirs. "Welcome to the neighborhood!" Her heels clacked as she walked across the driveway.

"Marian?" said the mother of the new family. She turned so we could see her face. Huh. She kind of looked like Anne Walker, Fang's mo—No. Bad Max. Don't think about Fang. How did this lady know my mom?

"Hey," said Maya flirtatiously to the boy standing awkwardly to the side. She had been right. He _was_ hot. He was tanned and muscled, with silky black hair that flopped into his black eyes. He was handsome, with a firm jaw and highly kissable-looking lips. _No! Bad Max! Stop thinking about the hot dude!_

"Hi," he said, not looking at her. His voice was deep and smooth. Maya pouted, hand on hip, trying to get him to look at her. Even if we looked exactly the same, people learned to differentiate Maya and I by the way we acted. Maya was flirty and bubbly, less tough than me. I was nice to an exclusive group of people and scowled at everyone else.

Maya nudged me.

"Hi," I said irritably, not wanting to deal with some dude who would just eventually ask Maya or I out.

"Max?" he said, looking up incredulously. I was taken aback. Why did everyone in this family seem to know us?

"Um, do I know you?"

"Yeah," he said, in a _duh _voice.

"No," I said. He looked surprised. "I usually don't talk to people like you," I continued. It was true. I didn't talk to douches and players, which he probably was.

Now he looked genuinely surprised. "It's Nick, Max," he said looking hurt.

"Fang?" I asked in disbelief, using my old pet name for him. Could this really be Fang? I looked at the chiseled face, searching for hints. They were definitely there. The firm jaw, the heart-melting black eyes, the soft black hair. He was as muscled, if not more, than he had been at fourteen. I noted that he still wore all black. This was definitely my Fang, but all grown up. Could he really be the same boy who had told me he loved me in the ninth grade?

He nodded, but I didn't need assurance. I flung myself into his arms, wrapping him in a hug that I had been waiting for for three years.

"Fang," I whispered.

"Max," he said back. I could hear the smile in his voice, he who never smiled. That made me smile. I had my Fang back. All was good in the world. Ari could be plotting to kill me, and I wouldn't care less.

"Great," I heard Maya mutter. "Finally, a hot guy moves next door, and he turns out to be my twin's one and only true love. Go Figure."

I smiled some more.

* * *

I swallowed the sob I felt rising in my throat as I saw Nick and Max hugging fiercely, Nick looking the happiest I had ever seen him. Didn't he know that I could make him just as happy, if not happier? Max and I were the same; she was just fiercer, more toughened. When she hated, she hated with a passion; when she loved, she loved more than anything. What if Max suddenly decided to hate Nick? It's happened before. I snigger as I think of poor Sam, who had taken Max on a date once. They had had a good time, and then Max wrongly thought Sam had done something terrible that she refuses to talk about, and never spoke to him again. I still see her shooting him angry glares in the hallway, three years later.

I had loved Nick for longer than Max had; she hadn't even realized her huge crush on him until about a month before he left.

"Great," I mutter. "Finally, a hot guy moves next door, and he turns out to be my twin's one and only true love. Go Figure." Nick smirked.

Hey, sarcasm is my defense mechanism. It was either that or crying, and there was no way in hell I was doing _that_.

I blinked away tears as they held hands, turning to say hi to Nick's family.

"Hey," I said to his younger sister Monique.

"Hey, Max! Wait, no you're Maya. Can you believe we're moving back here? It's crazy! Dad got transferred back from Colorado, and we managed to buy back the old house! I can finally get my room back! I mean, I loved my room back in Colorado, but it just wasn't _home, _you know?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding. Monique talked a lot. Perfect. Just what I needed to take my mind off the two people that really needed to _get a room_ behind us.

"Yeah. I'm happy to be back. I can finally see Courtney, and I really missed James and Angelica and Zephyr and you and Max. And Nick gets his best friends back. I mean, his best friends are also mine, but he's really missed Max, you know? I can't believe he still loves her after all these years," Monique babbled happily.

Ugh. Not what I needed.

I turned again to see Mom and Anne doing the adult-kiss-each-cheek thing. Mom was being all stiff and uptight like she usually was, but Anne was being as happy and sweet as usual. Dad and Frank were shaking hands, Dad smiling and Frank stony-faced as his son. I don't know how Dad and Mom got married. Jeb Batchelder was a kind, caring man with a big heart, and Marian Janssen was a cold, calculating woman who was strict and paranoid. Dad liked hanging with family, eating chips and watching football and going to our soccer games, but Mom was one of those people who wanted a perfect home with perfect kids and a perfect life. That was why she hated Ari. To tell you the truth, Max and I weren't perfect either, but she seemed to love us all the same, in her weird, uptight way. Frankly, I think that Dad and Anne and Mom and Frank were more suited for each other than their actual spouses, but then Dad and Anne's kid would be the happiest in the world and Mom and Frank's would be the most miserable. There had to be a happy medium, as Max would say.

Ugh. Max. Me and Max were probably the closest sisters on the planet, but now I would probably feel resent every time I saw her. It was waaaaaay awkward liking the same guy. Especially if the guy in question liked one back and not the other.

But I couldn't take Nick away from Max. That would be too cruel. I loved my sister, and I couldn't bear to hurt her that way. Even if she had gotten the one I had wanted for so long, without even trying.

* * *

**A/N: Did any of you go "Aww, Poor Maya," after this?**

**Hmm?**

**No?**

**Okay, then. Whatever. The goal of this fic isn't to make you love Maya; just ... I don't know. Because I felt like posting a fic.**

**Didja like it? Review! **

**I feel so lonely here alone because the Flock is gone in some other Fanfiction of mine, and I didn't feel like summoning them.**

**Angel: *rolls eyes***

**Of course, Angel would show up ****_just _****to roll her eyes at me as usual. Grumble.**

**Anyways, R&R! ! ! ! ! ! ! **

**~Ami****


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